


The Burning Planet

by FantasyPrincess



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Original characters - Fandom
Genre: DWFF, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-01-01
Updated: 2015-08-04
Packaged: 2017-11-15 14:41:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 19,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/528392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FantasyPrincess/pseuds/FantasyPrincess
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Tenth Doctor has been traveling alone and stumbles upon a mystery in Prospect Park, Brooklyn.  With the help of some new friends, he has to race against the clock to save himself and a doomed girl - Can he solve the mystery and win the day?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1 - A TARDIS Lands in Prospect Park

Heat. The sticky summer New York that I love so much, just this side of uncomfortable. No one should be outside; they should really be sitting doing nothing, watching hazy funnels climb up to the sky in heat like this. Across my path runs a patchwork fuzzy mother cat careful not to be in the lava filled sunlight for very long, scampering under some shade-giving branches, perhaps spying a mouse or two and claiming summer truce. Prospect Park is glorious this time of year.

While on my Saturday afternoon walk back to my apartment, I spot a startling man in a trench coat that, in 10 steps, will be blocking my path. He is kneeling in the middle of the walkway and some trick of the summer sun makes his skin glow. I can hear him mumbling under his breath but it’s like the speedometer is broken on a car. Like I can see trees rushing by, feel wind, but there is no telling how fast we are really going.

I hold one of my science fiction crime novels limp in my hand. I had just reached a heart-stopping crescendo of moments – the insect queen was retelling her gallant tale to her would be attacker and he was about to retaliate – but something about this man made me stop and stare…

“Hello?” I asked. “Can I find you some help?”

The shoulders seemed to bunch. As if he didn’t even know I was there, which seemed ridiculous. 

“Oh, sorry… I uh… I could use some help actually.” His voice sounded swift, almost as if he didn’t have to waste time on breathing with his staccato British accent.

Not knowing what else to do I kneel next to him. There, on the ground, small and oblong-shaped was a funny-looking kitten creature, mewling at me. 

“Oh… my.” I swallowed convulsively. “Is it hurt?” That’s… uncanny. Big bulging eyes and orangey beige skin – like nothing I’d ever seen before.

“What? Oh, yes, no, well…” he seemed to consider the path in front and behind us, then the air, and leaned in close to me, forcing me to look at him. His startling brown eyes, all fire and open, as if he could see through me, into my brain and pluck out a stray cell. My pulse was suddenly in my throat. I could taste it. Something unreal, coppery and stale – What are you, I almost asked.

I blinked… he had been speaking and was scanning my face for a reaction. 

“Beg pardon?” Too close was all I could think. Too close to a strange man who whispers things to strange cats – I leaned back so far I ended up on the pavement, staring at both the man and the kitten-creature.

“I’m sorry, it’s hot out here, and I didn’t…” He just stared at me with his intense eyes slightly amused, like I’d done a trick. “Forget it. How can I help?”

“D’ya think you can pick him up—very gently.” 

He was back to studying the creature. Good. I got on my side to see if it was injured and how it was laying. Its eyes followed me, a little frantic, and I noticed it was shaking.  
“I think so… do you want it in the same position or should I, like, hold its head up first, or something?”

He considered me again, but this time with a smile. “Well, this is an Aurex—think of it as a distant—distant—cousin to the house-cat.” 

The Aurex mewled at us and flailed a little, as If it wanted to play.

“Completely harmless and adorable—just watch his tear ducts—his tears have a tendency to leave a nasty burn and he won’t like you droppin’ him—just mind, all right?”

I steadied myself so I didn’t have an arm under his face, and began to feel my way. It wasn’t fur, but it was too dry to be skin.

“Are those scales?” I couldn’t believe this. My brain almost began to send my body into shock, but the Aurex mewled so pitifully that I just couldn’t be that selfish. It was as if a switch I had turned on and I realized I’d do everything I could to help it… The Aurex.

“Very good, um, d’ya know I forgot to ask your name! I’m the Doctor—”

“Really?” I waited for him to elaborate and when he didn’t I concentrated on the Aurex. His little legs had hard tips like nails but not quite. It looked at me still mewling. “I’m Miriam.”

“Well you’re doing quite lovely, Miriam. Now, hold him still.” The Doctor reached into the breast pocket of his trench coat and pulled out a funny-looking pen. It buzzed to life, blue and slightly obscene, making an unnerving sound. The creature mewled louder when it came near him and squirmed in my grasp.

“Sh-h, I’m not trying to hurt you,” he cooed, still making little probing motions. “He’s sick. Young and sick.” The Doctor’s whole body sighed. “Well, Miriam—I’ll take him from here.”

The Aurex didn’t want to go from me. The mewling had turned to screeches. It whipped around its head and its eyes began to water.

“Look out, tears!”

But it was too late. The Aurex was a genius of aim and, somehow, threw all of its tears at the Doctor, getting a sizeable drop on his naked, outstretched hand. The Doctor sucked in all his breath and cradled his burnt appendage.

“You might want to get that looked at.”

“Not likely, it’s an aura burn….” He looked at me then, with weary eyes, judging my response only this time waiting to piece it all together to see which puzzle pieces fit.  


I licked my lips. “M-may I see it?”

His face seemed to flinch into a smile. He held up his hand, palm first, as if asking me to dance. Such an archaic gesture I’d never seen done with such perfection, as if he had just walked out of a nineteenth-century painting… then I saw the burn. It seemed raised and slightly moving with the air, as if it wasn’t stable. Most burns look blackish around the edges. Blisters had begun to form but they were perfectly round, like a bursting sun-colored orange. It was only about an inch in diameter but burns are the devil’s work—always hot.

“Well…” I swallowed again. “Well, it looks like you’re stuck with me… Doctor… first name or last?”

“Uh, well, actually neither—just the Doctor!” He smiled then, taking back his hand and rubbing it. I gasped but couldn’t watch. I suppose aura burns itch? I almost laughed, but I settled for smiling at the Aurex.

“What about Miriam? First or last?”

“Um, well, actually neither!” Now I did laugh a little. “I give my middle name until I know people better.”

“Sounds like you’re suspicious.”

“Cautious. Now, what’s wrong with this Aurex and where can I take him for you?”

“Ah, yes—he’s sick, as I said, but mostly home-sick. See, he’s very far away from—”

“I gathered that, thank you, Doctor.”

“Quite right, um, he lives under sand for most of his youth, and emerges only to feed; but something has brought him here, out of the sand early and, well…”

“Very far away from home!” We both said at the same time. 

I smiled at the Aurex, whose scales seemed to be affectionately rubbing against my fingers; it was making a low gurgling sound in its throat, which, I suppose, was its version of purring. “Poor little Aurex.”

“Yes.” He was suddenly serious. “Let’s get him into some familiar territory and safely out of this heat.” The Doctor began walking back the way I’d come, and further away from my home. Of course, I wasn’t about to tell him that, but I had consented to help, so I followed, cradling the creature closer to the cotton of my tank-top. It nuzzled in, and its tiny legs bent against my sternum.

“I, uh...” When in doubt, ask questions. “Why does it stay underground—agoraphobia?”

“Well, that, and the fact that… where it comes from, there are… it gets very hot….”

“Like, how hot?”

“Oh, about a hundred-fifty degrees in the shade…” and then after a thoughtful grunt. “If there was any shade…”

“Temperatures like that could boil a reptile.”

There was that smile again. “Yes, they can.”

“In order to have that much heat… how much sunlight is that?”

“A lot…” 

I just looked at him as we walked and I almost tripped over a stray branch. His hand shot out to steady me on the shoulder and was boiling hot. I squealed and recoiled. “I think you have a fever or something—you’re hot to the touch.”

He seemed to consider his hand, we’d stopped walking.

“Hmm, my core temperature is rising….” He brought out the prob again to check his hand. “No… no… but the burns are harmless… unless it’s… but that’s impossible….” He was speaking, calculating again, pacing almost. I absent-mindedly began stroked the Aurex’s head. It seemed to soothe both of us, and I realized the Aurex was cooler than I’d expected, and was helping keep my temperature just below burning. The Doctor looked up at the Aurex.

“When I said young,” he began. “I meant very young.”

“Like, toddler-just-learning-to-walk young?”

“Yes… but he’s exhibiting signs of adolescence.” He began walking again, quicker this time. I practically had to run to keep up. I hate it when I’m the shortest-legged person in a group. I whispered to the Aurex, “Is he always this up-and-down?” I adjusted the Aurex so I was holding him like a baby. “I won’t drop you and you won’t cry, deal?”

Cross an iguana with a kitten and you seem to get an Aurex. The scales felt dry and scratchy but the creature had the speed of a curious feline and wanted to know what my hair tasted like. I laid one hand on the Aurex to steady it and briskly followed the Doctor, doing double time, not by any means graceful nor fast, but I somehow managed.  


Coming out of the stone tunnel, I followed the Doctor around a corner into a clearing. There, next to a tree, was a startling, old-fashioned police box. I’d seen one in a magazine once that my grandmother had from years ago….

“What’s a police box doing here and why do I feel as though you know, exactly?” I managed to walk a little ahead of him and slightly block his path. His eyes looked up at me, considering. “And another thing. Don’t look at me like I’m a science project!” I was beginning to get angry. His eyes changed again, only this time it was all of his attention as if a bomb could have gone off and it would have made no difference.

I swallowed hard. I’d asked for the respect of it. I just hadn’t thought of what that meant, but I refused to waver. I didn’t look away. “I know that’s not a police box… what is it?”

“It’s my TARDIS. It’s a time-travelling machine. Indestructible. Bigger on the inside and alive.” He didn’t wait for my reaction, but instead turned and strode toward the TARDIS, opened the door and waited at attention for me.

I stood a bit straighter. When someone offers you this kind of respect, you did not lose it carelessly, or by accident. It was more than honor though – it was trust. He could have just said forget it and found someone else—but he hadn’t.

“Thank you. Alma. My first name is Alma.” As I passed into the TARDIS, he gave me all that attention and smiled, genuinely, with no hint of teasing.

“The pleasure is mine,” he said, and closed the door behind him. 

The sound resonated. It was that much bigger on the inside—a one-bedroom place, maybe.

“That’s a neat trick—you should market it as low-income housing to the poor—you could make a killing.”

“You don’t seem to shock easily…” He walked past me to the center of the room… 

A studio with a loft, then…

“Well, I read a lot of sci-fi crime novels.” I fished my book out of my shoulder-bag and offered it to him. “Vamps, werewolves, time-travel, aliens…”

He harrumphed, at that.

“Anything I can get my hands on to read or watch.”

He had gone under some paneling and seemed to be searching for something, lots of clanging, lots of scrambling around and then, “Ah-ha!”

He picked up a large, rectangular object with a grunt and moved it up the stairs, flinging it onto the main console. Then he got on his back to look underneath and pulled out a sand bag. He pulled out his probe yet again, clicked it on and pointed it at the sand as it fell into what can only be described as a large, but somehow very flat, fish tank.

“What is that?” I nodded toward the probe.

“It’s my sonic screwdriver.”

“Is it dangerous?”

He considered the air again—with a serious glance. “Consider it a tool of the trade.”

“And the trade would be…?”

One quick glance at me then back to the tank. “Tank’s ready.” 

I froze, but the Aurex seemed to understand and got very excited. I’d forgotten I was holding him. I walked over and the Aurex scrambled down my arm and, with a little popping sound, was under the sand. 

“Right!” I said, as though I did this every day. “I suppose I’ll be going.” 

He didn’t react. I was suddenly very interested in the strap of my shoulder bag. “Do you need to, I don’t know, wipe my mind or something?”

He smirked. “You do read too many stories…”

I laughed, “You sound like my mom! So you can’t really give me a mind-wipe then… so I just… go about my business…” 

Again, no response at all like a wall had just been erected. He, apparently, had no opinion on the subject. Well, fine… it was my choice to leave. 

“Ok… um…” I extended my hand in thanks. “It was, indeed, a pleasure, Doctor… I can’t thank you enough, really.”  


He smiled and said, “The pleasure was mine.”

As his hand touched mine, I remembered the heat I felt before, but this was like touching the sun. I could feel blisters forming already and I screamed, loudly and sharply. I fell to my knees, still screaming. The Doctor was saying my name over and over, and then everything went dark.


	2. Chapter 2 - Recooperation

When I awoke, I knew two things—my hand hurt like hell and Stephen was calling my name. I opened my eyes and he was kneeling next to me. He wasn’t sweating and I wasn’t warm any more, except for my hand. I tried to move my finger and felt gauze rubbing against my skin. What was that buzzing sound... Air conditioning? I tried to turn my head and that hurt too. 

“Sh-h, you’ll hurt yourself!” He adjusted a pillow behind my head and began to stroke my hair. “What happened? Can you remember?”

“Um… how did I get home?”

“This guy brought you. He called me on your phone and told me you had fainted from a first-degree burn… wouldn’t tell me how you got it, or his name… anyway, he carried you here and told me to tell you he was sorry—made sure I could take care of you—then, he left.” He just waited patiently for me to fill in the cracks.

“What time is it?”

“Five. You were gone for four hours..” Stephen gripped the back of the couch, attempting a calm gesture, which gave itself away only from the fidgeting. He didn’t meet my eyes. “I almost went crazy with worry, you call at one, saying you were twenty minutes away—!”

“I know, I’m sorry I scared you.”

“Talk to me! What happened?”

I told him everything… my retelling of it all made it sound so ludicrous. I sounded like all the kids who see lights in the sky and ask their parents to believe them, even though who would? I could see that same look on Stephen’s face—he didn’t believe me…

“Alma, are you crackin’ up on me?”

“How long have you known me?! Almost two decades and this is how you react? I’m not making this up, these things happened to me – TODAY!”

“I know, but this sounds crazy!” He was looking worried, but slowly coming back to his senses. “Ok, what do you need?”

I smiled and laughed to relieve the tension, showing all of my love for him, and he gave me his giddy ‘What?’ grin. “Kiss me.” 

He did. It was sweet and deep and I got lost in it for long enough to forget about this strange day.

When it was over his lips softly recoiled and his eyes were drowsy with feeling. He tried twice to speak and I giggled.

“Will there be anything else?”

I smiled. “Just some water, and maybe some Firefly?”

He smirked and got up to fetch the water. He returned with it and the TV series—asking which episode with his eyes. He pulled up a chair next to the couch and got me in a sitting position comfortable for the TV. As the oh-so-familiar TV show theme came on I started to drift off to sleep with his hand calmly scratching my head. I dreamt, then the black nothing of REM sleep took me...

To all the world, the scene looked normal: a boyfriend watching over his girlfriend with a burn on her hand while trying to cheer her up by watching their favorite show. But this was a relationship that had blossomed when they were so young. It was at the metaphysical level—they could almost telepathically sense things about each other. He knew with a worried glance that her breathing was too fast and irregular. He tried to make her so very comfortable while she was dreaming… The slightest of changes, any strong emotions and he would lose her. 

The Doctor had told him just to tell her that he was sorry, but he had given Stephen more to the story than that….

“Hey hon—I’ve been worried sick, are you ok?”

“Stephen, is it?”

Startled and blinking, the only calm thing he could think to say was, “Who is this? Where is Alma?”

“She’s here with me, she’s safe. But she’s hurt. Badly hurt, and I can’t help her here. She needs to be somewhere familiar with someone she knows and loves. I took a chance on you, boy. Can you help her?”

“Look, I have no idea who you are and no idea what part of Britain you come from. But if she’s hurt she needs a hospital, a doctor. Can you just bring her to one and I’ll meet you there?”

“No doctor on earth can help her… I’m so sorry but that’s the short of it. But you can—I can hear it in your voice—the maddening concern—you truly love her and honestly, I know that’s the best kind of care I can expect for her condition.” 

And after a long silence...

“Can you bring her here?” Stephen rubbed his eyes and swallowed hard. “I just want her home… and safe.”

“So do I.” There was something rustling and Stephen waited impatiently, grabbing at some papers he had been going through when he received the call — figuring the man on the line was getting pen and paper. When the man came back though, he was out of breath. “Ok, where are you?” 

Stephen gave him the address.

“And you’re in your living room? What time is it?”

“Uh.” Stephen glanced at the cable box, “Four-thirty-five.”

The phone went dead but there was this strange whooshing sound behind Stephen… 

This is that part in the movie, he thought, where something harmful or unexpected happens… “Alma would have seen this coming, somehow.” He laughed out loud. “And I would have hated her for it for just the briefest of moments.”

Before him there stood a large, blue box and it was so still and quiet, like it could have been there always. The door creaked open, and out peered a tall, lanky fellow in glasses and a trench coat over a suit….

“A trench coat, in this heat?”

He looked at Stephen steadily. Was he daring him to ask the question again?

“Sorry, do your thing… welcome, where is she?”

“She’s here… can you carry her in?” He stepped to one side to let Stephen pass.

Stephen got a half of a step into the box and started laughing and coughing all at the same time. This was magnificent! He felt like he had stepped into the world of Harry Potter somehow.

Alma was laying in a lopsided mass on the grated floor, unmoving. Stephen immediately ran to her.

“What have you done?” He cradled her. Her pulse seemed steady and she was breathing. “What the hell is going on?” Stephen gathered her up and lifted slowly. He wasn’t sure how hurt she was. Leaving the Police Box, he lay her down on the comfortable white couch in the living room. The Doctor followed at a respectful distance.

He positioned her on her side as if she were sleeping. That’s when he noticed her hand.

“It’s an aura burn, don’t touch it.”

Stephen’s head straightened as he turned to the man in the trench coat. “Ok—you—talk—now!” Stephen did not think himself a man to anger easily. He began counting in his head, slowly back from 10, like he used to do in grade school to avoid fights with the other children. But he stared at this man without flinching. Anger and rage were palpable enough to see like the hazy heat in the streets.

“I’m known as the Doctor.” One small nod was enough to keep Stephen silent. “I can’t help her. I meant what I said about no doctor on earth. Not even me… I’m trying to get to the bottom of all this… but I can’t worry about her and do that.” He raised his arm to show his hand. By this point it was completely covered in bright orange and red blisters. “You see? I am also afflicted but I have a strong constitution.”

“Ok, alien.” Stephen smiled a little, cracking his hostile exterior. “It was either human from the future or alien… I’m talking to an alien! A… British alien—wearing a trench coat—in New York heat.”

The Doctor interjected at that point. “Well done, lad, you’re on the right path. There is a problem that I must fix, but keep Alma here, keep her safe and happy. Are you planning to bandage her arm?”

Stephen was absently caressing Alma’s shoulder, as if to calm her—but she was passed out, so that was ridiculous. Now he gave the hand his full attention.

“Yes, I have a first-aid kit with some gauze, and some honey, I think.” Stephen disappeared into the bedroom for a moment and fetched a canvas bad that had a big red cross. Then it was into the kitchen for a jar of honey… on his way out of the kitchen, he seemed puzzled. 

“Is it that your first-aid kit doesn’t carry anything for humans?”

The Doctor was at first startled, but then seemed to think very hard about his response. Finally, “I don’t have one. I can regenerate.”

Stephen almost froze completely in what he was doing. His mouth formed a little “O” and his eyes lit up for the first time since coming out of the Police Box. The Doctor reached into his pocket for his sonic screwdriver, explained briefly what it was, and grabbed the honey. “It will make the honey stronger—and if you manage to save some, you might go into sugar shock so – be careful.”

“Not Alma, she’s got quite a sweet tooth.” Stephen’s throat tightened. “Will she get better?”

The Doctor looked at Alma, considering again.

“Look—just tell me—don’t spare anything. She’s stronger than she thinks…”

“Good!” The Doctor sounded elated. “Strong is good. But I think all she needs is to relax. See, aura burns are just like skin burns. You have to let them heal. They may get worse but it’s her aura and the way those work is by heat generating from her emotions. Hot emotions—anger, fear, distress of any kind—and that will make it worse. That’s why she needs to stay here and stabilize.” Then he turned his gaze on Stephen, asking, searching pleading. “I’ve got to warn you of the danger to her. She is not safe yet and won’t be for some time. She needs looking after, someone to keep her calm and relaxed.”

Stephen swallowed. “Things have been really good between us. I think I’m what you need…”

Hearing that, the Doctor turned and walked back to his blue box.

“But, Doctor, where are you going?”

“I told you, I’ve got to find out what’s going on. Something came a long way here to do all this!” He looked angry and sad all at the same time. “There is an ointment that progresses the healing process immeasurably. Once I find some, I can bring it back for her and we can heal…”

Stephen wouldn’t dare shake his hand, but there was a comradeship in their eyes. 

“Who will keep you calm, Doctor?”

The Doctor only smiled, tight around the eyes, the smile didn’t reach them. He closed the door and faded into nothing. Stephen spoke into the void:

“Good luck.”


	3. Chapter 3 - Why is nothing ever simple?

Stephen’s hand trailed through her hair, an almost absent-minded gesture given that she was so hard asleep. 

His face was tight and small with tears but he made no sound. He wasn’t sure how long he had been sitting there ... Stephen was so tired….

His brain had been going through all the information—trying to logically categorize it all. He suddenly felt a pain in his chest. It was unfair, he thought. Neither of them should have to go through this alone. 

He picked up his cell phone because it had started its piercing message alert. A simple text message read: 

U hear from Alma —she ok?

The number showed Avery had tried to reach him. Had the phone even rang? He wanted something to hit, but settled for walking quietly into the other room. 

“What’s up, man?” 

“She’s okay—she’s sleeping in the other room. I’m watching her in the reflection of the hall mirror…” His voice was very soft, even though he wasn’t sure whether it mattered or not. She was really out.

“That’s strange,” Avery said, “Is she sick?”

“No, I don’t think so.” Stephen sighed and rubbed his eyes. “She is just a little hurt. She’s got a burn but I’m not sure how.”

“What do you mean?”

Avery was like family to them, all of them having met in the same year. The Doctor hadn’t said anything about NOT saying anything… and it was Avery, so…  
“Wait, wait, what?” came a scream. “You met the Doctor!”

Stephen shook his head and tried to remember to keep his voice low. “I know, I know it sounds insane, just whack me upside the head, but his… his…”

“TARDIS?”

“No his… wait…”  
Avery sighed, with feeling. “Blue? Bigger on the inside? Disguised as a Police Box from London?”

Stephen was silent. How did he - could he know –

“I’m coming over. If the Doctor is here, then it’s more serious than you or I can fathom… I should be there in twenty.”

“But—but you don’t sound terribly…shocked. What do you know about him?”

Avery seemed to take a shuddering breath. He swallowed hard and Stephen could almost see his frame move, with familiarity that only years of friendship provide. 

“There are stories, British folk-tales—like pre-comic books—about a hero… a time-travelling alien who saves the world… saves the universe a couple times… and he owes me five quid!” 

Before Stephen could ask him any more, Avery quickly added, “It’s a long story, that I will tell more of when I see you.” And the line went dead.

Stephen looked at his phone and hung his head. Then it rang again, with a number he didn’t recognize. He picked it up and held it to his ear. 

“Stephen, is that you?” The Doctor’s clear voice rang out to him and he became visibly relaxed. Now that someone else had heard or experienced the Doctor, he knew he wasn’t going crazy. It made him almost laugh. “How’s my patient?”

Stephen glanced at the mirror, scrutinized his girlfriend’s condition… “Doctor? She’s sweating. Why would she be sweating? The air is freezing in here.”

“It means one of two things. Either her body has registered that it has a nasty burn and it’s trying to dissipate the heat by taking it into her body. You humans have such smart survival instincts—my body tried to do the same thing.”

“But it didn’t work…” Stephen finished for him, walking back to Alma’s side. “So what’s the other?”

“That the burn is working its way to her physical body and burning her from the outside…” The Doctor let out a cry of frustration. “I should have regenerated before—God, this is all my fault. Stephen, I’m sorry— Alma was very smart—surprisingly so—but I don’t regenerate in front of anyone if I have a choice… and I thought I had one, but she shook my hand and I forgot… for an instant I forgot, and…”

“That’s enough. How do we fix it, Doctor?” The cell phone in Stephen’s hand almost shattered. It wheezed with the force of his shaking fingers.

The Doctor cleared his throat. “Quite right, can’t give up hope.” 

Stephen could almost hear him rake his fingers through his insane hair, all grease and too long for any kind of respectable gesture. “I’m where I need to be for the ointment but someone has literally burnt all of it away. I need to go elsewhere to look for it.”

“Can I make some?” Stephen began to pace and sway slowly. He was so sick of feeling useless that his head hurt. “Are there ingredients? A recipe?”

“No—I’m sorry. God, I am so sorry.”

Stephen heard something crash, and flinched.

“Don’t be sorry, Doctor, just help us. You can save the whole universe, but you can’t take the time to save my girlfriend?”

“Who told you that?”

“What?”

“Who told you I saved the universe?”

Stephen swallowed and heard his call-waiting beep. “Avery Jacobs. He’s a friend of mine.” Stephen checked who was calling, and sighed. “Speak of the devil. Hold on, please.”

The Doctor was breathing heavily and seemed to be pulling levers. “Oh, I’ll be there shortly. I’m coming back.”

The Doctor’s line went dead and Stephen heard a familiar whooshing of his blue box… ignoring it fading into existence, he walked to his front door to let in his friend.

Avery filled the door like a looming, blond, blue-eyed rugby player. His broad shoulders and legs would intimidate any man, but if anyone would bother to speak to him they’d find intelligence, taste and sophistication. He had the best of both worlds. Avery gave Stephen a bear hug, and walked into the living room, coming face to face with the Doctor.  


The two men looked at each other, intense and unwavering for about a minute. Then, the Doctor broke out into a wide grin and Avery let go a laugh and threw a friendly jab at the Doctor’s shoulder.

“My, you’ve grown,” the Doctor blurted, putting on his specs to give Avery a once-over.

“Oi, don’t get fresh, Time Lord!” Avery gave him another jab, this time with a little more feeling. The Doctor grunted and staggered back. Avery caught his coat to keep him from falling. “Are you all right?”

“I’m getting senile in my old age, my young friend. Somehow this one,” he stepped aside so Avery could see Alma. “She stood up to me. She wouldn’t allow me to calculate her worth or how much I should tell her. I barreled ahead and forgot she was frail and human. She probably thought I was just a peacock.”

Avery huffed and looked Alma over. “Well, you are. But she has a special gift for dealing with pompous Brits.”

“But, I’m not a… Brit…” the Doctor laughed.

Avery didn’t laugh. He just leaned over Alma and kissed her on the forehead. “Sweet thing, sweet stupid thing,”

“Why is she sleeping like this? It’s just a burn.” Stephen said from the doorway.

“It’s a burn from an Aurex, distant reptilian relative of the cat—common house-cat. It’s actually me the Aurex burned, but Alma was with me, and then she shook my hand. Out of respect, I…”

Avery looked at him with sad eyes. “You aren’t perfect, man.”

“Yes… I should be… at least, this much.”

“How the hell do you two know each other?” Stephen was stammering. “I mean, Alma’s passed out now, for an hour, I can’t do anything but make her comfortable until—what? she burns up from the inside? Until she's dead and buried? Well, screw that! Who are you?” Stephen hadn’t meant to, but he was suddenly in the Doctor’s face, and his hands were tensing. The Doctor never moved, just waited, as if he knew what was coming. Stephen wanted to hit him, he would do for a good smacking but couldn't. He wasn't a violent man, not really. He just didn't want the things he cared about to break.

Avery stepped between them. “Stephen, calm down… sit—I’ll tell you that story I promised and the Doctor can try to fix this.” Avery slowly put a hand on Stephen’s shoulder….  


Finally, Stephen looked at Avery, pleading for answers, or maybe that Avery get out of the way so he could hit the Doctor. Avery leaned in and whispered. “He’s not the enemy. He’s saved your life a dozen times and my life personally—I’ve seen him in action and if he was here to hurt us, trust me, you wouldn’t have seen him coming, you would just be dead.”

Stephen looked a little shocked and opened his mouth to perhaps scream, but Avery squeezed his arm. Stephen felt his head fall over and all the tension in his shoulders release. He let Avery turn him toward a couch so he could sit down. He refused to sob or scream, which was all he wanted to do. The Doctor was so still—like he could have stood there for all eternity and watched everything—passive, immobile. When Stephen was sitting on the couch opposite Alma and the Doctor, one knee clutched to his chest and Avery next to him—a calming hand on his shoulder still.

“Doctor… sit, please.” Stephen offered, unable to watch him standing like that.

The Doctor seemed to visibly relax, but there was deep sorrow in his eyes. 

Dear God, Stephen thought, He welcomes punishment… He feels guilty. Stephen instantly pitied him, and turned his attention to Avery, who was watching him steadily.

“Okay, I’m okay, really—I know you. You’re dying to share the stories!” Stephen couldn’t help smiling and neither could Avery.

“Oh, have I been. I have wanted to tell you for so long!” After a deep breath, “Have you ever heard about Bariteos?”

Stephen shrugged.

“You wouldn’t have, but I thought I’d ask. Remember when I went to London for a semester as a freshman for high school?”

Stephen nodded. “Yeah, something about a science experiment going wrong and blowing up the school right before summer vacation.”

“Right, you got it. Well—what I left out was that there was a nest of Bariteos that had swarmed underneath the school. They are like tiny parasites and they infect computers and all kinds of technology to make it project more and more of them.”

“Like digital fleas, it’s how they procreate.” The Doctor chimed in. He was sitting uncomfortably across the room now, deep in thought but still listening.

“These Bariteos would feed on the information highway and then spread and basically send the entire world into darkness if we didn’t get rid of them. Something was controlling them you see and we can’t co-exist on this planet with them peacefully. The Doctor tried to get them to leave with him but they were dead-set on using us as a breeding ground so… We sabotaged they’re ship and subsequently blew up the school.” Avery glanced at the Doctor in respect and admiration.

Stephen listened, fascinated. “That sounds amazing!”

“It was—oh god—I’ve wanted to tell you that for almost ten years.” Avery took a breath. “It was scary though. The whole time, I didn’t know what I was going to do practically right up to the explosion.”

“Doctor?” Avery said, getting his attention. “It would appear you aren’t improving either." He watched as the doctor flexed his hand, studying it with the sonic screwdriver. "Shouldn’t you just regenerate?”

“It’s because he can’t forgive himself.” Stephen said from behind his knee—hiding from the Doctor as well as himself.

The Time Lord gave Stephen a naked look. The pain was raw on his face of someone that you had just met seeing through you so quickly. “I’m sorry… I’m lost here…”

Avery sat back but Stephen didn’t understand. “What?” he blurted. “Are you giving up?”

“No, but…” Avery tried to explain. “The Doctor is like Sherlock Holmes—”

“Only better-dressed and more handsome and doesn’t smell of pipe tobacco and doesn’t have annoying sidekicks--although some had their moments….” The Doctor was stopped in midsentence by the look on Avery’s face. “What?”

“Y’mind? I’m trying to make a point!”

“Sorry.”

“As I was saying, an inspector—he follows this obsessiveness when trying to identify a problem. But there are no bread crumbs here—no direction.” Avery had it then. “Like when Alma figures out the plot before you do—except this movie has no ‘tells’.”

Stephen just blinked at Avery and after a time, and then began full throat hearty laugh. “Why don’t we wake her up then?” Stephen smiled. “Why didn’t I think of it? She’s happiest when figuring out a mystery any way and she doesn’t want relaxation—she needs adventures, it does wonders for her—makes her feel great. Forward movement expulsion of energy—she needs positive action.”

Avery looked at the Doctor just for a second. “She can do it, he’s not wrong – she’s always at her most vivacious when she’s trying to crack a case!”

“Course she can,” the Doctor said, “I’d welcome the help. Let’s wake her up….” The Doctor got up from his seat and leaned against the far wall, not wanting to shock Alma too much, Stephen thought.

Stephen walked over to Alma and sat near her. “Hey, baby.” He kissed her cheek and whispered into her ear. Her eyes fluttered open and she touched Stephen’s hair with her bandaged hand, bringing her lips to his, gently kissing him and then realizing where she was and why. She pulled Stephen in for another languorous kiss and whispered. “Thank you for the bandage!”

Stephen made a tight, pitiful sound and said, “You’re welcome.” He kissed her again. “We have company, honey.”


	4. Chapter 4 - The best roller coaster in the world

I froze. I had slept alot, I could feel it in my joints. “How long have I been asleep?”

I searched the room with my eyes. “Avery! When did you get here? And who’s your friend?”

Stephen looked over with sadness at the man leaning against the wall. “You’ve met.” He motioned Avery out of the way—“You’re blocking the view—you remember the Doctor?”

The first thing I remembered was his eyes, but they had been looking at me like I was a breath of fresh air; but now, “What’s wrong?” I was suddenly cautious again—“Why is everyone looking at me like I just rose from the grave?”

The Doctor pushed off the wall. He seemed to try to start what he was saying several times. “The Aurex that we found? I brought it home. It’s very happy there… four suns!”

I felt myself smile and the Doctor beamed, but he still had tightness around his eyes. “I’ve been trying to figure out what brought it here but I can’t.”

He took the seat next to me, that Stephen had first sat in. “I thought, maybe, you could help me work out the mystery?”

“Me? What do you need me for?”

Stephen took my free hand and kissed it. “We thought you’d like a good mystery…. And we are stumped.”

Fuel on the fire, I thought, but there is something they aren’t telling me. “All right, what have we got?”

“Burns,” the Doctor said with a sly smile. “The first thing we need to find is the ointment for these burns, otherwise you and me aren’t going to be able to help and, well,” the Doctor laughed, loud with madness, “without us, the world is doomed!” He let out another insane laugh and looked around the room at the shocked faces on Stephen and Avery.

I was just smiling, though, “You’re not used to that sentence as a ‘we’, and it’s usually just you isn't it?” 

The Doctor gave me his genuine smile. "She is very good at reading the situation, this just might work."

“This is going to be fun,” I sat up a little more with help from Stephen. I had forgotten that having one hand was so debilitating. “Ok, the ointment grows in a field or something?”

The Doctor nodded. “Yes, its a plant on the Aurex’s home planet, but it’s gone—exploded.”

“And not with any kind of weapon either, otherwise your tempest—”

“TARDIS.”

“Right, TARDIS would have been able to find a trace of it?”

“All traces were local to the planet, but there’s nothing there smart enough, even by accident, to destroy those fields—nothing that I can say tries to communicate with something other than its own species.”

I was thinking on overdrive but I was so hot. “Baby,” I turned to Stephen, “Can I get some water?”

Stephen shook his head, “You’re just going to have to suffer through it.”

I pouted at him and gave him my best pleading noises.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the Doctor lean forward to protest, but then there was Avery’s hand on the Doctor’s shoulder. Finally, Stephen caved in. 

“Of course, be right back.” And he took my glass from before into the kitchen.

“What about the Aurex themselves?” I said, as though the debate had never stopped… “Do they have any connection to the ointment like anti-venom being made with venom?”

The Doctor thought about this—“No… as far as I can tell, the ointment is like sap in a native plant but—but it is toxic to the Aurex—they can’t stomach it—if one of them was foolish enough to eat some….” He licked his lips, eyes on fire.

“What, Doctor?” My pulse was in my head.

“It’s impossible though! …Aurex… they explode after ingesting a fair amount of the stuff—but for the whole field to have been destroyed… It’s still unlikely that they would have stumbled upon something like that… Like if you drank several glasses of acid without realizing the pain of being dissolved alive was from the acid.”

“I see your point.” I swallowed some water. “Well at least we know how the fields were destroyed, I suppose the questions are still who and why.” I rubbed my eyes and yawned. “Before you said that the Aurex were like a distant cousin to the housecat… Is it possible to think the Aurex are also considered pets?”

The Doctor shook his head. “It’s unlikely.”

“Well—hear me out a second—you said that the Aurex we found should have been younger than it was, that it was an adolescent when it should have been teething. Maybe someone is trying to breed them; pets or livestock? Was there a significant drop in the Aurex population on their home planet?”

“I didn’t think to check, honestly. I was too concerned about you.” The Doctor covered his mouth and had a look on his face. Not shock, but more fascination. I had an office manager once who liked like that a few times, and I always called it her ‘filing cabinet face’—her eyes were going through the filing cabinets of her mind and somehow always seeming to find the file she was looking for. “I should go back and check.” He stood.

“Ok, I’m ready.” I waited patiently, offering Stephen my good hand.

“No, you’re not coming,” the Doctor said, getting his key out and not looking at me. 

“I’m going, you need me—the whole world needs both of us, remember?” I sucked in my breath and managed to sit up on my own. Stephen wasn’t sure which would protect me more, helping me or the Doctor. So, he was still choosing a side, but that was ok.

“You’re getting worse,” the Doctor protested.

“So are you.” Avery mumbled hovering, watching the fight and waiting for the winner. 

“If he can go gallivanting across time and space, then so can I.”

“Have you forgot alien? Space and time-travelling alien! You are a frail ape who can’t even stand on her own! This right here is how you got hurt, Alma. You forgot who you were and your limits and made me forget, too.”

The words I was going to scream got stuck in my throat. I tried to swallow past the lump there but the tears came and I tried to hide. “You… you still need me… and I want to help before it’s too late. Before I explode or turn into dust or whatever.”

Avery suddenly went very still. “Doctor.”

I wiped my eyes and heard the Doctor yelp in frustration. “No, no, I’m coming before…”

Avery rapped the Doctor on the back, “Doctor!”

“What?” He turned to glare at Avery, but saw me first. “Oh, no.” He stumbled over to me. “Alma, listen to me. You have got to calm down.” His eyes were so wide and I got the full intensity of them. I couldn’t see him at first. There was something like red around the edges of my vision. Then warmth, like the hot summer breeze outside, all the way up my right arm. 

“Doctor.” My mouth was suddenly dry. “The burn is spreading. I can feel it. It’s not just on my aura anymore, is it?” I felt my head swell, and then my balance shifted. The Doctor caught me with his sleeve and made sure I didn’t hit my head or anything… “Stephen, are you—”

“I’m right here, baby.” Stephen looked afraid. He wanted to touch me, but wouldn’t dare. I smiled at him. “I don’t know what to do.” He said, concern in his face and voice.

“I know.” I looked back at the Doctor. “Can you make me fall asleep? I’m too worried, you’re right. The only way I’ll find peace is to fall asleep.”

“Open your mind to me.” He put his good hand on my head, fingers at my temples, and closed his eyes. I felt a pressure and a pull and then there were thoughts in my mind that hadn’t been there before, loud and disorganized. I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate. 

“Focus on my voice, Alma. Think of your childhood… how did you fall asleep when you were afraid? How did people lull you to sleep?”

“Um… I would rather not say,” I said, feeling like I was on fire. Suddenly there was a cool rag along my arm. “Thank you, Stephen.”

“Never mind that. If it’s too much trouble, hide it from me. Like closing a door. Outline it in blue when you think you know what will do the trick.”

I did. I found it… when I was about ten years old, I had insomnia and watched the Terminator 2 movie over and over again until I had passed out… since then action, sci-fi, and horror have been able to make me sleep if I know the movie well enough. I didn’t shield the memory from the Doctor, since I thought we could both us a laugh. We shared a brief chuckle and he activated the memory. Like point and click. 

The last thing I remembered was him saying “I’ll be back.” Then more darkness; but this time I was running from the fire and might not wake up. I was screaming in the dark. Screaming at all I was and nothing.

“Hello, all,” Elle called into the room. She dropped some groceries in the kitchen and kept talking. “Does anyone else feel like this weekend refuses to end? I’m not complaining, mind you.” After some rearranging, some chatter to herself, she came out into the living room. Avery and Stephen had stepped back and were looking sadly at each other. Alma was passed out on the couch and a strange man with specs and a trench coat was looking her over with a buzzing flashlight.

Stephen was the first to come out of his trance. “Welcome home, Elle. Alma’s not feeling very well. This is the Doctor, family friend.”

The Doctor just nodded politely and only had eyes for Alma.

“Doctor? Doctor who?”

“Just ‘Doctor’ actually. I prefer Doctor. I’m typically a pediatric and children can’t pronounce my name.”

Elle nodded and then seemed to wake up from a dream. She looked at the blue box in the front of the room. “What is this thing?”

Before the Doctor could answer, Avery stepped forward as if to shield the TARDIS from view. “The Doctor brought it. He thought it might be helpful for Phantom Tollbooth.”

The Doctor gave Avery a funny look and then just nodded. “It wasn’t any trouble. It was stored in the city.”

Elle looked from one to the other. “Well can we move it to the far side of the room?”

They just looked at her, blinking.

“It’s blocking my bedroom door.”

The Doctor put two and two together. “Of course. We’ll move it straight away.” Elle walked into the bathroom. She turned on the shower and poked her head out before climbing in. “Anyone need the bathroom?” Her face went slack. The large blue box had moved. But… that was impossible. She didn’t hear one scrape, nor grunt. That thing must weigh a ton. There was the Doctor, grinning, open-faced, but his hands were in his pockets. 

“Nope, fine out here. May not see you before I go. Take care, nice to meet you.”

Elle wiped her eyes and waved. “Please feel welcome, and come back soon.”

The door closed. The Doctor whirled on Avery, “The TARDIS as a prop?”

Avery smiled. “You as a pediatrician? For a second, I expected you to pull a lollipop out of your pocket.”

The Doctor seemed hurt, but grinned. “What? You don’t know!” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Children love me!”

Avery humphed. “Can’t argue with that.”

The Doctor had put away his glasses. His eyes were wide, but all the lines in his face went down. “Stephen,” he said clearly, “would you come with me?”

Stephen coughed, long and loud, before taking three deep breaths. “I want to, but Avery is better at these things than I am. If I go, it’ll just be for the ride, and I owe more than that to Alma.” He looked down for a moment.

“Stephen, you read things better than you think.” This was from Avery, as he began bandaging Alma’s entire arm. The blisters were a shade of bright yellow that would be pretty, if they weren’t killing her. They engulfed her entire right arm, all the way up, and stopped just before the curve in her shoulder. When she was patched up, the Doctor listened for the shower. “We’ve not much time. Both of you then, come and find the mystery and her cure.”

“One thing, first,” Stephen went to pick her up. Carefully, without touching the burn, he brought her into their bedroom. He laid her on her side so she wouldn’t irritate the burn, turned on the air conditioner, and closed the door. “Hey.” He went to tap on the bathroom door.

“What is it?” came Elle’s muffled voice from underneath the sound of water.

“Just that Alma’s in our room. The Doctor gave her a sedative, so she should sleep through anything, but she’s still asleep, so…”

“I’ll keep quiet, and look in on her from time to time.”

“She just needs rest; we’re going to the stores, before they close, for some medicine.” Stephen leaned his head against the doorframe. “Thanks, we’ll be back soon.”

The Doctor was leaning on the doors of his TARDIS and Stephen noticed a line of sweat on his upper lip. 

“Doctor, do Time Lords sweat?” 

The Doctor wiped it off as if Stephen hadn’t said anything.

“Off we go—Avery, Stephen.” He opened the door and ran in.

“It’s not his fault,” Avery said, as he got into the TARDIS. “Besides, you haven’t seen this baby in action. She doesn’t just fly across rooms. She can fly across galaxies and she rides like a dream.”

The Doctor was flying around the center of the TARDIS, pushing and pulling levers. “You bet she does!” He smiled at them as the door closed, and they were suddenly rocking back and forth, as if they were in the some insanely large tree. Stephen and Avery ran up the ramp to grab a hold of something. 

“Come on! Come on!” The Doctor was shouting at the machine the way someone shouted at unmoving traffic.

“This must be the way Alma feels on a roller coaster.” Stephen smirked.

Stephen was almost on the floor with each rock. Then, with a shuddering stop, the whole thing landed solid as anything. Avery ran to the door and opened it. Stephen was too excited to expect anything, but all he saw was space over Avery’s shoulder, and his brain couldn’t fathom what that meant. Avery turned quizzically to the Doctor, a vacant look that Stephen recognized as his ‘suspicious blank stare’. He knew what happened, but wouldn’t say until someone else confirmed.

The Doctor blinked from his console to the open door and back. “Well, normally I’d scan for all the Aurex on the planet below, but…” he swung around the console so Stephen could see.

“It’s so small!” Stephen said. It would appear they were on the planet, but the readings said it was the size of a Volvo. “Ok, I have to ask…”

“Usually the size of your moon!” the Doctor said, with fire. “Scanning…” He put his specs back on. “No life signs of any kind, not even plant life.

Avery tramped back up to the console to peer over Stephen’s shoulder. “What about planet composition? Are we standing on its core?”

The Doctor flicked a few switches and scrunched up his face. “Wait.” He grabbed the console back and turned a dial like tuning in a radio station. “Well done, Avery—this isn’t shrunk, it’s just the sand—the top layer. It’s been seriously compacted, like an implosion. Meaning… meaning, meaning, where’s the rest of it? The core is about the size of the Empire State Building all the way ‘round, but what about the rest of the pieces?”

“No traces of another ship?” 

The Doctor just shook his head.

Stephen collapsed on the nearby couch. “Can I see the four suns?”

The Doctor spun a dial and kicked a lever. The ship spun slightly. After a moment he bowed low and offered the door. Steohen walked back and opened the door, standing.  
“Beautiful.”

One large White Sun, which must have been 5 times the size in the milky way, was looming on the horizon and filling the doorway. Two of the Red Suns rotated one another very closely, looking attached, clinging to one another in a perfect cyclical dance. Just then a third sun passed, a blue dwarf, and as it moved past the two, something seemed to happen. Like the blue dwarf had a very strong gravitational pull, and almost pulled one of the yellow suns along. 

“What’s going on out there?” said Avery.

“That’s part of the rotation, the gravity just barely kisses one of those red suns, and creates a strong amount of heat. It usually signals the mating season for the Aurex. The overly-powerful heat makes for the most potent offspring.” 

The Doctor stood behind Stephen and watched. 

The blue dwarf began pulling away and the yellow sun, with an astounding flair, returned to the first sun that seemed electric and hot, the heart of an explosion taking place within the second sun.

“What, that’s not, something’s wrong.”

The blue dwarf pulled away a little but seemed frozen, and the second yellow star came rotating around, far enough to feel the pull of the blue dwarf. 

“No, no, no,” the Doctor kicked the TARDIS into gear. “Mister Jacobs, would you be so kind? We’re getting a closer look.” 

Avery shut the doors quick as you please. The TARDIS spun out of control for a moment. Stephen perched himself on top of the couch so he could see everything. The Doctor was making so many calculations, Stephen’s head spun. 

“Okay, so, if one of the suns gets a boost, it’s like an energy drink, right? All the planets that get light from it are given a jolt of life. Well, a double shot is more like steroids and will push those planets to the brink.” The TARDIS slowed and the Doctor brought the outside view up on his console.

“There,” he said, pointing, “Can you see it?” 

There was something—a line of metal, thick as a book, just barely larger than the blue dwarf.

“That is a trans-galactic spacial manipulator. It’s used to disrupt things like planet alignment. I’ve never seen it used to stumble a sun, before.”

“Does that sound as impossible as I think?” Avery stood next to the couch and leaned on Stephen’s shoulders. “I mean, where would you get one of those?”

“Looks home-made.” The Doctor turned some knobs, but the TARDIS didn’t move. “Oh, dear…” He stumbled a little. Avery and Stephen both leapt to catch him. His hands splayed over the controls, round blisters ready to burst all over them.

“Doctor, you must regenerate!” Avery said, coming over.

The Doctor threw up one blistered hand. “No, I’m not lost yet.” He stumbled over to the console, leaning, getting a grip and then pulling out his sonic screwdriver. “I can confuse my cells for the next two or three hours, tops… that should be more than enough time.”

“Why?” Stephen just watched him feverishly scanning all of his burns… “Why can’t you regenerate?”

"Stephen, when I regenerate, it’s not like fixing a cut or a bruise. My whole body and soul change. I become a different person.”

“Maybe a new you can figure out what’s going on!”

“And maybe he won’t care!” The Doctor’s eyes flashed with pain. “This is my responsibility and I will not fail!” The sonic screwdriver buzzed as the Doctor finished. “There, I’ve re-frozen the cells along my arms and aura….” The Doctor swallowed and laid a hand on the TARDIS, unable to look at the other two men but steeling himself. He seemed enormous just then. Like the whole galaxy was in him and of him. Avery looked at him with admiration… but all Stephen could muster was fear and pity. 

“I swear to both of you, the Doctor’s voice was so soft and so heavy. “I will make this right! I will find this answer. It’s why I’m still here, I could have run, but I won’t.” He stood straight and tall, finally meeting their eyes. “I will save and protect all of you and I will find this mystery.”

With that, he spun around the TARDIS a bit, switch, switch, lever, dial, and they went back to rocking back and forth. “OK, I need to go back to New York. Retrace some steps.”

“How likely are you to miss something?” Stephen mumbled.

“Not bloody likely!” Avery said, “Doctor we have a friend who will have all surveillance covered. If we can contact him, maybe we can piece some more unrelated things together.”

“I’m ready—coordinates?” The Doctor places himself in front of a keyboard with fourteen keys and a billion settings.

“Actually,” Avery said, taking out his phone, “thought I’d just call.” The Doctor grabbed Avery’s phone, attached it to his console, and hit send. Suddenly they were looking at a bedroom. They could hear the phone ring on the other end. A lump under the sheets rustled but didn’t not get up. It went to voicemail and Avery yelled for Derek to get up. The lump stirred and threw something at the console and turned over. 

“Well, he’ll call right back—trust me!”

Stephen stood up then. “Did that just call Derek’s computer?”

“Yep,” the Doctor beamed, showing off.

“Can I make a call? We know some healers. I know they would want to go lay hands and pray for Alma.”

“Won’t help.”

“Can’t hurt!”

“All right, punch it in.”


	5. Chapter 5 - Pick yourself up by your bootstraps

Dominick was sprawled out on his couch with Fifth Element playing on his television. His laptop was loading the latest episode of his favorite Joss Whedon drama. His eyes were almost closed, then “dee-bee-bee-dee-dee” began coming from his computer. Opening one eye, he saw a flashing alert on his monitor. He sat up when it said “Avery calling.” Out of curiosity he opened the link and then there was Avery and Stephen.

“Ok…” He noticed instructions: hold down mouse to speak. Slightly leaning into the screen he cleared his throat. “Hi guys…. Whatcha doing in my laptop?” Without looking, he picked up his remote and paused the movie.

“Long story. Listen, I need a favor.”

“Guys, it’s my day off. If you can manage to call my laptop from your cell phone, then you can get whatever you need done.”

“It’s Alma, she’s sick.”

Dominick’s grin was gone. “What happened?”

Stephen gave the quick and dirty version. Leaving out aliens, space and time-travel.

“Well, who is this Doctor?”

“That would be me,” The Doctor moved into frame. “Hello!”

“Well, hello!” Dominick’s eyes widened a little

“Stop it,” Stephen said, rubbing his eyes.

“So, Alma fainted into your arms? That’s my girl.”

It didn’t take a genius to see they were all in danger, but something they weren't telling him, the silences and the looks, made it all the more intense. “Okay Stephen, how big a circle are we talking?”

“Four, if you can manage it. Ask the gods, all of them, for help. We don’t have much time. A few hours at most.” His eyes looked so tired.

The Doctor leaned in close to the screen. “Rules: No one touches her. Do not wake her. Please don’t go into details with those you encounter, I am a ghost, a free spirit…”

“Doctor, she’s my best friend, and I will heal her. Come hell or high water. You owe us dinner.” Dominick looked off the monitor for a second. Sebastian’s home.”

“Can you take him with you?”

Dominick bit his lip. “Let him say hi?”

Before any of them could answer, Dominick hugged his boyfriend hello and padded off somewhere to get ready. Before the door closed to the bedroom, he heard Sebastian ask who the new guy was, and he could practically hear him wink.

“Ok… candles, sage books cloth, pendant, and…” he pulled out a small, velvet pouch. He was packed and began dialing numbers.

Sky and Anastasia were on their way. Dominick came out prepared for anything. Sebastian was going to come too.  

Dominick locked the door behind him. He rang Elle’s cell. “Hey—Yea, it’s Dominick. Stephen got a hold of me and asked if I could come over and lead a prayer circle for Alma. Just letting you know I should be there in about twenty minutes. Take care.” He hung up, and hoped she got the message—he didn’t have a key any more.

\--

Derek did call back, and was compiling data when Avery, Stephen, and the Doctor showed up.

“I’m not done yet, but can I offer you guys a drink? Water? Something stronger?”

Stephen took a beer — Avery, a diet coke — the Doctor, four glasses of water in a gloved hand. When Derek looked at the glove and was about to ask, Avery threw an arm around his shoulder and, after a swig of his drink, gave a laugh saying, “My, but we are a pretentious lot!”

“Mind if I take a look at your set-up?” Derek led the way back to his room, posters of TV shoes and movies to the right and tech to the left.

“Well done,” the Doctor said, admiring the seven-screen setup. “You do go outside, on occasion?”

Derek nodded. “On occasion.” He sat back down in his office chair, fingers flying across the keyboard. “So, there is clear surveillance of the park. I can see you and Alma there—if we rewind to before Alma showed up it’s just you, Doctor—go back just a little more—” Derek slowed the image and blue up the path so both men could see it at 400 percent.

“There.” The Doctor leaned forward until his nose was almost touching the screen. “From the sky… the sky? Well, it should have died, unless it transmigrated—feelings of mistreatment? Strong emotion—ejector seat! Oh, yes! That explains the erratic behaviors, the over-excitedness, and the need for care, and why it didn’t like me. I would only study it—but it latched onto Alma because she nurtured it! Oh!” He actually punched the air, but stopped speaking when he noticed Derek scanning the video.

“You asked me to check for anything strange near the park in the last few weeks?”

The angle switched to a ground-level view. Playing at normal speed, there was a pair of shoes that seemed to be strange even to the Doctor. Then, there was a bend of knee, and the hand until they could finally see was carrying an Aurex, which the figure plucked from his pocket. It had restraints around its legs, and was thrashing terribly. There was a bit in its mouth, but it didn’t keep its mouth closed. Instead, it was open, gaping..

“Oh, no.” The Doctor could almost see it before it happened, such was the sight of a Timelord. The stranger’s pant leg twitched, and another second later the stranger’s other hand brought a shiny, bright green leaf to the Aurex’s mouth and crushed it on its teeth and the bit. Someone had developed a system, the Doctor thought. His face went very still and blank. The air in the room seemed electric, but all anyone would have noticed was shielding, massive and looming. Derek, being between the Doctor and the screen, which almost seemed to twitch, watched sadly as the little creature began going into convulsions… the stranger walked away but the ground camera, without sound, like a snuff film… and wasn’t that what they were watching? A snuff film.

“That poor thing…”

Both of them watched, unable to help in any way as the little Aurex silently screamed, its large eyes pleading with air.

“Turn it off,” the Doctor asked.

“What—there’s just one more—there!”

A manicured hand, female, human, entered the frame, and was cradling the Aurex, picking it all the way up and holding it to her chest… and then…

“There are hospital records. Mysterious wound to the chest. The police were called in, did a full investigation, but the evidence was deemed inconclusive…. I could show them this. I could give that family this and tell them what happened….”

“You know them?”

“Her son—Foster. This,” Derek rewound another angle and froze on the woman’s face. “This is Mary Sheldon. Foster was her son, who also got killed in an accident.”

All the Doctor could give him was eye-contact, and pity.

“I keep thinking this would help, somehow. Maybe if they know what happened they can find peace.”

“They might. But losing so much to chance can really affect a person. Best leave it alone.”

\--

Dominick got off the train at the oh-so-familiar station. He, Stephen and Alma had lived together for two years before he had met Sebastian. The perfect man for me, he thought with a smile. He sent out a text, telling the others he was there. He crossed the street, though it was a little out of his way. The trees from Prospect Park hung over the sidewalk. They were so beautiful in the summer, blossoming all over. He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see Sky and Anastasia.

Sky was petite in statue, but slender, and toned like a runner. There were parts of her that said ‘dainty’, but when you looked at her face, you could see the tiger reaching out. Anastasia had the same look in her eyes, and the same build. The difference was Anastasia was chocolate-colored and Sky was so fair. Dominick had never witnessed the yin-yang effect like this before… of course, the three of them had never done magic together, and all had prepared for this moment. Dominick kept his shields up, as he always did, even in his sleep; but he could feel them, not pushing, but resting with each other.

Sky’s power was like his own—cool, calm, like a sea breeze. Anastasia was hot and cold at once, like freezer burn. Sebastian’s power was warm, like rolling lava. Dominick had never understood Sebastian’s power, which stemmed from a love of science, math and logic. Alma had said once that magic was an organic substance, but that the person who had it within them used whatever they felt was organic. “To Sebastian, that is an equation!” and she had smiled….

Sebastian touched Dominick’s hand and interlaced his fingers with him. Sky and Anastasia each touched a shoulder. Dominick took in all their energies because he was a good focal point, and grounded spirit who grew up from the soil and could take stability and energy from it. Every shield was in place, except a small nick at the top of his sternum that allowed everyone in.

“We…” He breathed in deeply and tried again. “We are here to pray and to heal and Alma does not need us to doubt, or fear. We cannot pity, we can only hope and help. Join with me or leave.”

Anastasia was the first to say, “I am with you.” Then Sebastian and Sky with, “and I.” Dominick smiled and gently began walking and although the others let their hands fall, they fell into step behind him.

Elle buzzed them in and mentioned that she’d only looked in on Alma once. “She didn’t look very good. I’m going out soon but Dominick, can you stay with her until Stephen or I get back?”

“I was planning to,” Dominick said, “don’t worry, but if I could ask… once we are inside her bedroom and you leave, just slip a note under the door that you are leaving. We’ll need to concentrate.”

“Of course, definitely.”

Dominick left the others to share pleasantries with Molly and went into the bedroom. It was dark except for a pale stretch of sunlight across the floor from the curtained window. The sun was setting. A quick glance at the clock told Dominick it was almost 7:30PM. He took off his bag and took out everything he’d packed. The velvet pouch had fallen to the bottom of his back and after some frantic searching, he pulled it out with a sight of relief. He opened the pouch and jostled the contents into his hand. Alma had been with him when he’d bought this stone. It was a rough cut of rose and yellow quartz fused together with something he couldn’t identify running down the center. He placed it on Alma’s hipbone, which was the flattest point on her body. The sun caught the stone and Dominick was transfixed for a split second, then he went back into the living room.

\--

“Whoever took the Aurex and their planet is using it to punish them here. This crop of Aurex have no defenses except transmigration under extreme duress. The fact that Earth hasn’t been overrun with them is testament to their mistreatment.”

The Doctor was running, full-tilt, toward the TARDIS. Stephen and Avery could hold their own in a track meet, but running over uneven ground… both were panting by the time they hit the police box, but the Doctor had beaten them by a split second.

“In you come!” he called from inside.

“Where to?” Avery said from the ramp, breathless.

“Well, I uploaded all that Derek had found on his searches.” He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and scanned the whole of the console—copying the information into the system. “The TARDIS will give us any correlations for planets.” The Doctor’s specs were back on, but he was smiling now. “So the ship must be massive to hold the planet, or maybe it’s tugging it alone… no, the gravitational pull would have registered on my scans… but who could have made the trip?”

Stephen had become transfixed by the Doctor at his TARDIS. There was something about it, a well-rehearsed instrument maybe. It reminded him of doing theatre tech for some reason. There was a perfect abandon there, and like the Doctor flying around at his console, then, “Ah!” the Doctor punched the air again. “There—a planet! Large and well-populated.”

“Who are they?” Stephen couldn’t help but ask.

“I don’t know, I’ve never been there…” he admitted with a grin. “But they’ve got a mighty fine ship in orbit, Dear god, it’s massive!”

Stephen and Avery leapt at the screen to get a better look.

“Are the Aurex on there?”

“Oh, yes! Everything is there… the Aurex, the plant with the salve to heal Alma and myself, even the planet’s core and outer layers… and more life signs with… oh my….” Suddenly the console looked like it had splintered into a billion pieces. Specifications and graphs described the mind-boggling list of ship parts. “Those are the arsenal it will be fighting with on board.”

“What about the outer cannon?” Avery asked, pointing to a surprisingly large shotgun-looking weapon, with double barrels the size of Kentucky.

“I’m more worried about our rescue mission.” Stephen leaned into the console to study the ship more closely. “Can this thing get heat signatures—not life readings. Just heat.”

The Doctor leaned in front of Stephen to flick a switch, then back to the screen.

“Can you land us here?” He pointed at a large, white cluster that indicated heat, great amounts of heat, in that location. “It’s either the planet they stole, or the engine room.”

“If it’s the engine room it may be all but empty… not bad, Stephen.” The Doctor made the TARDIS rock again, and they landed, feeling all that immense heat, and the Doctor went very still, waiting. “I’m… fine, I’m fine. Let’s just find that ointment, then.”

They listened at the door but all was silent. “I’m first, then Avery, then Stephen. Go fast and get cover and if we get separated get back to the TARDIS.”

He absent mindedly touched the TARDIS walls with his gloved hands. “She’ll have ways of protecting you that I can’t, if things get bad…” The Doctor turned and, with a “Go!” he opened the door and they ran about four steps to stop and marvel at where they were. Avery and Stephen looked up at the gigantic planet revolving around above them, impossibly held up by nothing. The Doctor was taking everything in. The sphere rotating above him, the architecture of the ship, the sounds it made as its slow way through space, the connectors converting the energy for the engines, the Aurex in a tank over to the left, screeching painfully in a dark metal cage, and the hundred or so ‘soldier’ looking race that had all their guns aimed in the Doctors direction.

“Hello!” he said with a smile.


	6. Chapter 6 - The Unusual Suspects

Elle left earlier than she intended, but that now made the rituals all the easier. Dominick smudged the room and lit some candles. “Guys, we’re gonna need water…” Without a second glance, Sky fetched a large blue pitcher and two glasses.

“How did you know?” Dominick asked.

“Look, we are here following your lead… but I’m not an idiot. I see what you’re going to try to do and if it works, that will be stellar.” She smiled at him and he smiled back, but his mind was already a million miles away, preparing.

Sebastian took his hand, making him thrill slightly, but he quashed it. He couldn’t be himself. He had to be empty.

“What are you planning to do?”

Dominick thought for a moment. Sometimes, explaining hurt the whole operation, so he had to choose his words very carefully. “Alma’s body is battling something. I will take her body’s ails into myself and see if we can’t help the healing process.”

“Sounds dangerous.”

“It is, but Alma... She did it for me once, and the time has come to repay the debt.” Dominick stripped down to his boxers and undershirt. He was about to be very warm. “Ok, water—maybe ice? I’m not sure what else she could need.”

“Just do your thing and tell us as the requests come up…” Anastasia said—poised with a swatch of velvet to pick up the stone.

“Right.” He bent his legs in a half-crouch. “Ok, I’m ready.” He got in a more comfortable position, the one he used for meditation and relaxation although he tried not to think how far off those things would be. “Once this starts, my mind will still be me. Physically I may take some of her injuries, but either way her body and mine will be linked. If, for some reason, you need to move me, make sure there’s cloth between us. All of us and me.”

Anastasia gently picked up the stone with the cloth. It felt surprisingly heavy in her hands. She gingerly placed it in Dominick’s palm and stepped back, folding the cloth and rubbing her hands. Under her breath she began to pray to Athena, a warrior protectorate, out of nervous habit.

Dominick held the stone and felt nothing… A small throng of panic surged but he quickly suppressed it.

“Open my eyes and let me see.” He repeated over and over again. “Something is wrong…” He stood up and walked over to Alma reaching out with that empathic spark of himself. She was still in there, afraid, but he was sensing her through mist. It was so hard to find her. Then… “She has her shields up and… something else… a protection wall—barrier. The stone is drenched in her psychic energy but I can’t feel anything.” He began wondering if the Doctor did something he shouldn’t interfere with but let the thought go.

Instead of approaching her, he held the stone tighter and decided to curl his energy around the questionable center it had, the center where all the power resided. He tasted metal and then burning, fire, hot hell-fire.

“I think I found a way in.” Then he was burning from the outside in, like he was caught in a back draft. He was suddenly on the ground with a sickening thump. Sebastian put on gloves and grabbed him by the shoulders.

“Tell us what you need.”

Without waiting for an answer, Sky poured out a glass of water and waited for Dominick to sit up. He wasn’t passed out, but he was breathing heavily. Finally, he sat up and whispered, “Water…” his eyes were deep chestnut brown and impossible wide. He clenched at the glass and nearly swallowed the whole thing in one gulp. Sebastian poured glass after glass as Sky got larger collections of vessels and started filling a second pitcher… Finally, when the pitcher was nearly done, Dominick picked up the whole thing which had maybe three or four ounces left in it and poured it over his head, while Sky poured another two glasses from the second pitcher.

“It’s so unbearably warm… if it crosses the line into hot we’ll be in serious trouble.” He was swearing and when he looked around the room it was through hazy heated glasses as if he’d just gotten out of the shower.

“I’ll start running a cool bath,” Sky said.

Anastasia went to get a cool washcloth and ice. Sebastian stayed with Dominick.

“Can you see or hear anything from her?”

“Fear, anguish. Her legs hurt, but I think it’s because she’s dreaming that the fire is chasing her.” His arm began to twitch and he kept looking at it, as if flowers were going to sprout forth. “I can feel that blister, wall of blisters on her arm, but they’re not on mine; my body doesn’t know what to do with the sensation.”

Anastasia came back with the washcloth. “What now?”

Dominick took it to his neck first, and then his face, favoring his right side. “We stay with her, ask her to hold on, remind her of her strength, and wait for Stephen and Avery to arrive.” And he kept his last thought to himself, but he felt a smile play on Alma’s lips. _And wait for the right kind of Doctor._ He thought, as if he could summon him.

* * *

The Doctor stood in front of seventeen soldiers across and nearly forty soldiers deep and three tiers of that behind them. His Time Lord brain had begun calculating: _Who are you? How many? What are your weaknesses?_ But what he was saying was small talk.

“So, how is everybody?”

...

“No, I mean it! Are you all well?"

 

...

"This ship is certainly massive and has enough space for a whole colony—is that it? Are you all looking for a new home?”

Always silence. All the soldiers remained perfectly still, with their guns trained on the Doctor, Avery and Stephen. Stephen was somewhat frazzled but did his best to remain calm. Avery gave a blank stare into the helmet of one of the soldiers.

“Such a subtle, unique difference between guards and soldiers. When you encounter a guard there is almost a mutual openness and exchange of information. But with a soldier, it is as if war was a cologne that followed them about. They also wear far more armor than guards and this lot is no exception.” The Doctor said to no one in particular.

Mica or granite face plates hid their features, with crisscrossed breathing holes, which meant that any weapon that could fit would need to be one-third the size of a screwdriver. The rest of their headgear was spiked in back. Not just jabbing, blunt spikes, but something that would scratch and cut the skin. Also, though the Doctor couldn’t find it, there had to be a break between the body armor and the helmet. Strong-looking links of metal decorated arms and shoulders, and a black, shiny metal that appeared malleable since it moved with the breathing, which again had to be a separate piece from the leg armor but the Doctor couldn’t see, although he was very seriously considering bringing his face inches from the slits on either side of their body to test a theory. The boots they wore were also made from the same malleable metal as the chest plate, were platform so whatever was under all the armor had short legs. Useful information in hand to hand combat, but not really now. If the Doctor managed to get one alone he’d have to remember that.

“Well look, we’re just explorers looking for the planet… Barcelona! Do you have star charts we can borrow?”

...

“Politicians from Rexicorical-phalipatoris?”

...

“Food critics from… oh, damn, I’ve nothing left. I’ve just run out of patience.”

The Doctor’s eyes flared and his teeth clenched; when he spoke again, the hair on Stephen’s arms raised.  “I’m the Doctor. I found a sick Aurex on Earth and it hurt someone we care about.  The Aurex was sick, and I brought it home only to find that—” Pointing at the spinning sphere above him, “—his home was taken and apparently brought here.

“And I think.” His voice got low and more sinister, promising darkness to the waiting army. “I think you lot will set this right.”

So still, so silent.  The Doctor screamed into the face of one of the soldiers, not caring if he lived or died or how close the gun was to his chest bone. “I demand to know who or what you _are!”_

“Taal.”

The Doctor froze, almost as still as the waiting army. “I’m sorry—come again?”

“You ask name—we have none. If you must—call Taal.”

The Doctor half-turned, keeping a watchful eye on the guns of Taal. The voice sounded so familiar and… wait. That was his own voice. He decided to try an experiment.

“Taal—are you one or many?” and covered his mouth.

“Many—All—Even unborns.” There was his voice again, but now he was absolutely certain he was not the one speaking. The voice sounded enough like his own, but it was unsure of itself. _Just learning speech._ He thought, _just on the cusp of that cosmic trick._

“Do you hear that? It sounds like somehow...” Avery said. “Where do they get off, stealing my voice!” He was still face-to-face with the soldier who the Doctor saw visibly tense—the first movement since leaving the TARDIS, and it is hostile.

“No, no, no, no.” The Doctor yelped into the cavernous silence around him. “We just want to figure out what has happened.” He put himself between Avery and the Taal. He still projected his voice as if he had nothing to hide. “Avery—Stephen—it would appear we have just discovered a new race. Now, let’s not act like barbaric humans. I humbly retract anything else I said earlier in a hostile tone.”

“Human? What is human?” Taal asked.

“We are.” This from Stephen. “Why do you sound like us? You sound like me! Like what I imagine I sound like in my own mind.”

“Only way… only way.” The voice actually sounded puzzled and confused, as if all this was a stretch.

“How do you usually communicate?”

There was absolute silence again and the Doctor smiled to himself. “How silly of me, yes…”

The soldiers had not lowered their weapons. They were no closer to finding the ointment—the plant was nowhere in sight and they were treading a very thin line with Alma’s life. The Doctor began again.

“Please, let’s start over. How can we solve this?”

Suddenly, movement, like a river. All guns were clutched to chest and there was a gurgling sound that must have been them breathing heavily. They swayed, and the Aurex in the tank screeched louder, until Stephen thought his head would explode.

“We are this,” the Taal said, under extreme duress. “All noise—chaos. Cannot help you. You all—prisoners.” The gurgling Taal closest to them snapped back to attention and began marching, twenty or so of them began forcing the three down a narrow hallway and just before the expanse of the ship was lost on him, the Doctor saw all the remaining Taal form under their planet suspended in mid-air a circle of prayer almost. It reminded him of a race alien to this world, primates who used to prostrate themselves to the sounds they would hear in the dark, praying over and over, as if it would save them from the lightning and the rain.

* * *

There were no seats in the jail cell—which didn’t seem the correct term. The Doctor stood with his back against the wall, seeming to listen to nothing as if the very door would come alive and begin speaking to him. Stephen was perched against a wall, halfway kneeling and watching the Doctor out of the corner of his eye. Avery was stalking at a slow pace, and Stephen thought about new lions in a zoo that never get tired and never lose their guard.

“Right,” the Doctor said into the stone silence. “Let’s get a handle on things, shall we?”

Stephen bounced up in a flash and Avery turned his face in the Doctor’s direction. The Doctor looked at each of them over with pain. “I haven’t much time to explain so please, just listen. You two are going on without me.”

Before Stephen and Avery began to protest, the Doctor lifted his shirt collar. The blisters had spread despite his sonic screwdriver freezing them earlier. “I’m sorry, but I must conserve my energy or you’ll have no one to pilot the TARDIS and take you home.”

Then he seemed to clutch the wall again, but he wasn’t in pain. He was listening. Stephen learned over to Avery and made a universal sign for crazy.

“Okay, here’s what went on. The Taal are from the same planet as the Aurex. The stutter of their sun disrupted their evolution and now they are this militant race that doesn’t know how to function. Think about it—they build this ship but have no idea how to fly it! They could have shot us at any time, but I don’t think they knew how.”

“And this jail cell doesn’t even look reinforced. I’m convinced they took us to the wrong place.” This from Avery, who seemed to visibly relax once the Doctor was speaking.

“This is the very essence of what we need to stop. I’m almost convinced that the whole race is being controlled. Not completely, but by some kind of telepathic whip.” The Doctor looked at both of them again, but this time he seemed to be testing their worth. “There is a way to render them useless without harming them—other creatures from the same planet will help us.”

“Who are they, and how do we know we can trust them?” Stephen spoke softly, as if the walls would crush the uprising.

“We don’t, but—” The Doctor began speaking something that wasn’t English and something unlike anything that Stephen had ever seen began oozing out of the wall. It rolled down the Doctor’s shoulder and onto his hand, appearing like a small slug with arms and legs. Stephen wasn’t sure, but he thought it actually made a small ‘ta da!’ sound when it was finished.

“This is a Hibani.”

The little slug bowed.

“He is still, even now, evolving. The whole species is currently in a state of flux. That is why they can hide in the very walls of the ship—and they will be the perfect guide. They are considered by the Taal to be a part of the ship, no more alive than a spanner, and the Hibani are too proud to allow this to continue.”

“How will they guide us?” Stephen asked, examining the Hibani. It was coal-colored, not black, but grey and red. Like coal on fire just before it became embers. “Hello fella, do you speak English?”

The Hibani shook its head.

“Ah, but you understand it?”

The Hibani morphed into a thumbs up.

Avery actually let out a satisfied “Ha!” and came to stand next to Stephen. “That’s brilliant!” He held out his hand to the Hibani. “Will you do me the honor, sir?”

The little Hibani marched off the Doctor’s hand and onto Avery’s and changed color three times, before settling on pale green.

“Very agreeable, and may I say it suits you!”

“Could we stop messing about?” The Doctor said, looking pale. He as swallowing convulsively and kept blinking. He stumbled his way into a corner and began to slide his way down the wall, drinking in every drop of cold metal he possibly could. They were running out of time, Stephen thought. Although he didn’t want the Doctor to suffer, deep down he thought that Alma must be doing worse….

“The Hibani will show you where the plants are—you can crush some of them up and put them into the ventilation system. It will be like opium and they will sleep. With any luck it will help me regain some of my strength, too.” The Doctor’s eyes closed. “Go—”

The Hibani turned into a small arrow to point the way.

Avery rushed the door and began to pry the hinges off. Stephen was watching the Doctor.

“We’ll be right back—hang in there.”

The Doctor nodded a little too fast. “Now. Go.”

The Hibani was jumping, if such a thing could, onto Avery’s shoulder. Stephen left the Doctor to help his best friend. They were making so much noise, surely someone would hear…? With a final crash, the door practically fell apart, but Avery caught it before it hit ground. Stephen leapt out first and then held it for Avery. Together, they rested the door on its hinges, so nothing looked suspicious.

The Hibani began to guide them through the halls expertly, and whatever Taal they encountered were slow and dim-witted enough to not see them when they ducked behind an obstacle.

Avery and Stephen had always had a certain chemistry when working together, with that trust and knowledge of each other, they made great time through the alien spaceship. Finally coming upon a great door with a key code lock, Avery asked the Hibani how to get in. The creature made a little chirping sound and scrambled to the console on the wall.

“You’ve been of great help,” Avery said, leaning into the little gut a little. “Will you show us the way back?”

The little creature nodded and began punching in numbers as he pressed half his body _into_ the console.

“Fantastic,” Avery said, pushing open the door.

This room appeared to be no different than the jail cell, but bigger, with portals at either end and a few stools. The walls were the same intense black. In the middle of the room grew a vine, as if it sprouted from the very bulkheads, it was green and silver, and the silver pulsed like mercury.

“We’ve found it, Avery,” Stephen said, walking further into the room. That’s when he noticed the floor was glass, and the majority of the plant was under it, like an iceberg. Then, moving between the cracked of light below him, he could see the Taal moving about. He froze, afraid to move forward. This would prove a slight challenge, he thought.


	7. Chapter 7 - Better than Coffee

Dominick leaned against the wall opposite the air conditioner. His skin was drying out but it was all he could do to keep his wits. The heat was getting to him. He’d drunk nearly three gallons of water—enough that he felt sick at the thought of more. He began having terrible waking fever dreams and would occasionally mistake Sebastian for his childhood friend, and Sky to be his sister. Sebastian couldn’t touch him, but stood by him and played along when the fever dreams reached their peak and Dominick began crying over his long-dead dog.

“I hate feeling so useless,” Sebastian said, pulling Anastasia aside.

“Don’t think of it like that. You are serving a great purpose by simply remaining open and available. “ She put a hand on his shoulder. “Pray with me.”

He kissed Dominick’s sleeve and knelt with Anastasia at the foot of Alma’s bed.

“Repeat what I say.” She placed her index finger and her pinky, indicating servitude, and closed her eyes. Sebastian did the same, and then began reciting the phrases with her until it became like a chant, a mantra, that resonated within him.

“Stop,” Anastasia said, and held her breath. “Now, take a deep breath and let out the energy to cradle her, like a cloud.”

They did so and could feel the bed suppress itself, making room for the soft, healing air.

Anastasia turned to Sebastian after a time, letting the moment between them settle. “You have more power and control than you think. You should release it to help us out here.”

“But it’s not the same as yours is or even Dominick’s.” Sebastian had to concentrate to not let the tension build in his shoulders. Sky walked back into the bedroom quietly.

“It’s ready. Sebastian, can you help me?”

They had to keep the room so cold that no one bothered taking off the gloves they wore when they went to move Dominick. Anastasia actually borrowed back a skirt that she’d knitted for Alma, she was so cold.

Sebastian took Dominick’s right arm and Sky took the left. They moved slowly, being careful not to allow skin to skin contact. Anastasia led the way, opening doors and fanning Dominick all the way as the bathroom was not as cool as the bedroom.

The tub had been filled with water and ice. Ice packs floated along like stranded pieces of a shipwreck.

“Ok, in you go, on three.”

Sky lifted one leg into the water, and then the next. Dominick had enough of his wits about him to brace himself against the wall, so as not to topple over on Sky or Sebastian. Suddenly, a great hissing sound came from the bedroom.

“I’ll go check,” Anastasia said, putting down her fan and trying to breathe past her fear. She began repeating the Athena protection spell she knew, to block out any questions she might have been having.

When she opened the door to the bedroom, it looked as if Alma was on fire, but as she moved closer she couldn’t smell anything, just heat and sweat. What looked like smoke was steam. Alma’s body was steaming and her clothes were visibly wet, the hiss reminded Anastasia of a hot pot when dumped into cool water. She made sure the rag on Alma’s forehead was still cold and she left the room to tell the others.

Dominick’s mental state seemed to be clearing. He was holding Sky and Sebastian’s gloved hands. He was sitting cobbler-style in the tub, which was difficult for someone his size, but he seemed to manage.

“Is she alright? Her heart is beating very fast.”

“I think the water was a bit of a shock to her system but it’s not having a negative effect. She seems the same.”

Dominick let out a strained sigh of relief. He was already looking less pink.

“Is there anything we can get you.”

“Aspirin…” Dominick gently took his hands back and picked up one of the ice packs. He began running it up and down his arms. The hissing in the bedroom increased with every press until it began to sound like a broken heater. He chuckled a little to himself.

“I think she actually has a fever.”

Sky furrowed her brow. “Does that mean she’s getting sick? Infection?”

Dominick shook his head—“I don’t know, but our boys better hurry up….”

* * *

Stephen hooked his legs to the ceiling and swung free of Avery’s arms for a second. He was dangling on the invisible side, the one that the Taal most certainly could not see. There was a corner of vine completely hidden to their eyes, if they had any.

Stephen couldn’t discern for several minutes whether or not the echoes he was hearing were from his movements, the movement below, of simply in his head. Several false starts followed. Finally, after a painstaking crawl across the apparatus on the ceiling, a part on the ship obviously not meant for this use but holding well and true, Stephen managed to let his arms hand and trim the much-needed branches. He took as many as he could carry in his shirt, and even tied some  of the long vines around his midsection.

“Ok,” he breathed, steadily. He swung his arms back up to the bars to begin his crawl back when the door behind Avery swung open and three Taal walked through.

Avery did his best to hide, but the silent Taal seemed to sniff him out. Stephen was somehow undetected.

“No, I wasn’t,” came Avery’s voice. Surprisingly calm. Stephen couldn’t hear anything. Slowly, he inched along the ceiling, making his mind a blank. He was almost upon them, when he spied the ventilation shaft. Letting go with his left, he began ripping some of the leaves off his chest and began crushing them. Immediately he could smell pine and fresh earth and water. The sap was slick and smooth and he let it run down his fingers, small drops and pieces of leaf were now in the ventilation system, when the Taal turned to him. He dropped the rest of the leaves he was holding quickly.

“You—down.” The Taal spoke again with Stephen’s voice, just as unsure. Stephen carefully untwined his legs and made a swinging motion, kicking two of the Taal in the head who knocked into the third. When they were all under him, he clapped his hands together and began rubbing his palms onto the small holes in the face plates. Slowly the struggling stopped. He heard other Taal in his head trying to sound the alarm, but then the voices abruptly stopped. He allowed himself a glance through the glass to see the other Taal. They were on the ground, Stephen assumed asleep.

“Well done,” Avery said, from the wall.

“Thanks.” Stephen’s eyes were a little too large, and his breathing a little too shallow. His hands were numb. It felt like shock but that didn’t make any sense. “I think,” Stephen saw all the silver on his hands and his brain seemed to turn on. “Adrenaline—heart-racing adrenaline. Makes you happy… That’s why the plant helps with the burn.” Stephen ran over to the rest of the plant and because taking larger stock, with Avery helping.

The Hibani rolled into the room, taking its post on Avery’s shoulder.

“I wonder why the Hibani are unaffected?”

Stephen turned wild eyes on the small creature. “Not sure—maybe—say, can—do you breathe?”

The Hibani pointed at Avery and then himself, and shook his head.

“Not like we do?” Avery suggested. The Hibani nodded. “Well, good, can’t lose our wonderful tour guide.”

When every possible piece of them was stuffed with plant, they found a faster route back to the cell.

The Doctor was slumped in the same corner, with his eyes closed. Stephen feared the worst and Avery went to touch his arm to find a pulse when suddenly and with a shaky breath he coughed, looking from Avery to Stephen.

“What? I knew you could do it.”

Stephen was so startled he actually laughed. He ran to the Doctor’s side and held the sleeve to his jacket, while he slowly pulled the Doctor’s arm free.

“What are you doing?”

Stephen looked at the Doctor, his eyes, wide as ever. “Don’t squirm! My hands are covered in the stuff. I can’t get hurt.” Stephen began breaking branches and letting the thick sap run down the Doctor’s arm. Avery was tearing off leaves and letting them fall over the Doctor’s exposed and blistered shoulder. Where it all fell there were hisses and steam, almost as if the Doctor was boiling. But as they watched, the welts and bubbled skin began to recede and heal, and soon there was just pink flesh. The Doctor blinked and began flexing his initially burn hand, which appeared completely healed.

“Oh, my…” He swallowed. “Hang on…” The Doctor looked pale for a moment. “I am healed—you’ve done it, boys—but I can’t seem to walk.”

Stephen bent to grab his hands. “I’ll carry you.”

“That’s what seems so… daunting.” The Doctor said, with a look of disgust.

Stephen threw the Doctor over his shoulder then, with the rest of the branches and leaves in tow, the Hibani guided them back to the TARDIS. The ship seemed to hum with the Doctor’s return.

The Doctor was laid out on the couch, conscious but unmoving.

“Are you going to be alright?”

“Yes, yes, I think so… It’s a bit like dehydration. My body has to charge back up.” The Doctor began flexing both hands. “The process is already speeding up, but you two will have to fly home.”

The Doctor began showing Avery which levers to pull and how far to turn the dials. Stephen walked over to the TARDIS doors to make sure they were shut and locked tightly. He heard the Taal make a sad statement: “Return and war”, which obviously meant that if they returned here, it would be battle. He put the padlock into place. “Likewise,” he whispered. The adrenaline he’d experienced was fading, but everything was still heightened, like watching life in high definition.

“Everything alright?” he asked, without turning. Looking at the door as if he could set fire to the whole ship with a snap of his fingers. Silence from behind. When he finally did turn around, Avery was looking at the console and turning knobs, which seemed to power up the ship. The Doctor was looking at him thought, solid and worried.

“I was about to ask you the same thing! Everything alright?”

Stephen’s jaw set. “I’m fine.” He walked over to stand near the Doctor. “Although, if you wish to remain peaceful with the Taal or whomever they seem to be, you’d best not bring me, next time.”

Avery’s eyes shifted, small and unnoticeable, but Stephen noticed.

“I don’t think the Doctor will invite either of us back, at least, not for this run.” Avery kept going about his work and Stephen began stripping the leaves, making a small forest floor near himself.

“We are typical humans,” Avery said.

‘That you are, Avery. Both of you are so human that you risk everything to save those you love. You can’t get more human than that.” The Doctor was rotating his arms and shoulders, getting all the feeling back slowly.

“Yes, but,” Avery began, but the Doctor gave him a long, tired look.

“Anger and rage is like that burn… all surface until you either ignore yourself into an explosion or you get down to brass tacks and deal with the problem. Neither of you has killed. If you do I’ll probably find some way to stop you because you’re still not as brilliant as I, but thinking about it, a stray thought here or there, is not the same as intent.” He cracked his neck three times and grabbed the arms of the couch to catapult himself up. On the third try he found success with a mighty roar.

“How does it feel to be back?” Avery stepped aside, allowing the Doctor free reign of his ship.

“Oh, Mister Jacobs.” The Doctor gave Avery a large hug indeed, making him sway slightly. Avery’s laughter filled the TARDIS and soon Stephen and the Doctor were laughing as well as he pulled a lever, sending the TARDIS flying off into space.

* * *

The TARDIS landed on the soft grass of Prospect Park. Stephen could smell it through the door. He grabbed the vial of salve for Alma and swiftly threw it into his pocket. “Out we go,” and they were running again, fast and sure and strong.

Stephen got out his keys but the Doctor was faster with his sonic screwdriver. Up the two flights of stairs and through the door.

“Dominick!” Stephen yelled, “We’re back!”

Sky ran into Avery’s arms sobbing and Anastasia walked so slowly to Stephen.

“No, please, God, no!”

“She’s not dead, but her heart is pumping so fast.” This from Sky, fighting to speak between sobs, shivering and Avery’s chest.

“She’s ok—on top of the burn she’s sick. I don’t know where the infection came from and I don’t know what it’s doing but I think it’s killing her.” Anastasia’s arms were crossed. “What kept you?”

Stephen took a deep breath. “The Doctor had to show us where to find the right medicine.”

“Yes, well, if she’s gotten some kind of infection on top of this—show me?”

“Who the hell are you?” Anastasia turned to glare at the stranger.

“I’m the Doctor and I’m going to save your friend.” The Doctor stood his ground.

Stephen stepped between them, grabbing Anastasia’s hand. “I’m scared too,” he said. “Lead the way.”

Anastasia walked swiftly to the living room and through to the bedroom, with Stephen and the Doctor close behind. Avery cradled Sky and brought her to the couch, humming and soothing.

Stephen let out a startled cry when he saw Alma’s face. The burns weren’t just burns anymore—they were large, white-pointed boils—the almost-pretty orange pimples now covering her body had almost seemed to mutate. The Doctor stood at the door next to Stephen and seemed to be saying something.

“Stephen—the salve—now!”

Stephen reached into his pocket as if from a dream. The Doctor grabbed the small vial and sat next to Alma —“I’ll need scissors for her shirt and clothes.”

Stephen’s eyes burned hot… he turned to get the scissors out of the medicine cabinet in the bathroom to find Dominick toweling off.

“Hell of a tie to take a shower, Dominick.” Then he saw his face, eyes sunken, skin like drying dust. “What—tell me!”

“I think it’s the nightmare she’s been having. I think that’s the infection.” Dominick looked at Sebastian hard. “I know it sounds impossible, but I’ve been doing the impossible all day. When the infection became apparent, then I realized I couldn’t help her, so I cut myself off again.”

Stephen could feel himself going into shock. He couldn’t feel his legs below the knees and his hands and eyes couldn’t grasp the scissors right in front of him. Finally he leaned over the sink and threw up.

Sebastian said nothing, just put a cool hand on Stephen’s neck and grabbed the scissors to give the Doctor. Dominick waited for Stephen’s breathing to level off and then turned on the water, offering hi a towel.

“Thanks.” He ran it under the cool water and dabbed his face, washing out his mouth.

“Where did you actually go?” Dominick whispered.

“You’d never believe me….” Stephen took a few deep, ragged breaths, then walked into his bedroom. The Doctor had stripped Alma of her excess clothing, leaving her t-shirt now a tank top and some truly short shorts. Her beautiful pale skin was patchy, some places with blisters, some with boils. Stephen saw all the people in the room, suddenly, and cleared his throat. “I know you all care for Alma, otherwise you would not be here. Alma and I are grateful to have such good friends—but I politely ask that only Alma, Dominick and the Doctor and I be present for this part.”

Some left quicker than others, but all were silent and respectful as they left. Seconds passed but Stephen could feel each of them as the Doctor snipped and cut until finally Stephen could take no more. “Doctor, please. I doubt it’s necessary but she is bare enough.” The Doctor grit his teeth and nodded.

“It’s not my place—“ he handed the salve to Stephen for application.

Stephen took it with a shaky hand and under the Doctor’s instruction applied copious amounts to both blister and boil. Alma’s skin was no longer soft but still smooth. Any blemishes were some how made slicker by the salve so he only felt smoothness.

Perhaps it was the extent of the burn and the fact that there was so much of it, or maybe Stephen was seeing things. The steam was instant on contact and then a sizzle. Where the doctor’s burn had seemed naturally to heal, Alma y’s burn was almost violent. The burns went directly back into the skin. The boils became scorch marks. “Doctor?” Stephen asked not daring to stop.

The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver and examined her. “They aren’t permanent, keep going.” Pretty soon her skin was back to its usually pale pink color but she was still sleeping and her heart still racing.

“I don’t understand,” Stephen said, checking her pulse, stroking her hair. Half his body lay next to her and he was watching her very, very intently.

“You were too late.” Dominick knelt near Alma’s legs, sending her his pricking energy and trying to push whatever it was still clinging to her.

“No, no, no, there’s mischief here. The symptoms are gone but maybe she’s still got an infection.” The Doctor fiddled around with his screwdriver. “Ah—there, there, that’s the source of it—“ Alma’s hip barely showed but the Doctor situated the clothes to maintain her dignity but show them the strange shape there. It was shiny and black and seemed to be spreading out from the bone itself—though that was impossible.

“What is that.” This from Stephen. “Doctor, that looks like Taal armor.” He ran his fingers over the patch, probing slightly. Alma mad a small gasp in her throat but did not wake up.

“What’s Tall armor?” Dominick asked, his eyes wide.

The Doctor seemed to look at Dominick very hard. “Do you know how that got on her?”

“I was trying to help.”

“I said not to touch her—I wasn’t only thinking of your safety.” The Doctor shifting his weight and leaned into Dominick. “How did you help her?” His teeth were almost gritted.

Dominick reached into his pocket and took out the stone. The Doctor examined it first. “There is something in the center. Dominick stood his ground. “Alma and I found it in a magic shop and took it home. I held it and tried to decipher it but it just seemed to drink my energy. When I handed it to Alma she could suddenly feel what my body felt physically. I was physically exhausted and everything hurt.”

“Fascinating.” The Doctor said, continuing to scan it and he finally took it from Dominick. “There’s a single cell in there, trapped, afraid. It must have latched onto her feverish body for life, but this cell is still trapped. How is it replicating? Oh, oh wait—it’s drawn to heat, so perhaps it latches onto the Aurex and being slightly psychic covers them in it so that all they need to do is merely stand next to each other and know what they all want and may—oh—just maybe this insignificant little cell controls all the Taal from here and is telling them to come get it.”

“All this for a lift?” Dominick said, looking at the stone with renewed respect.

“Fine, good, great, um—so what does it want with Alma?” Stephen was as calm as he could muster. The blackness seemed to spread a little every time he blinked.

“I don’t know… what… what else do we know about it?”

“It’s turning my girlfriend into a Cajun delicacy.” Stephen growled, finding Alma’s hand and squeezing it.

“No, wait—“ the doctor brought his fact very close to it. Stephen resisted the urge to deck him. “It’s only on the surface—no! It’s only on her aura!”

“Then it hasn’t burnt her yet?” Dominick asked with a huge sigh of relief.

“No, she’s not lost, but how do I get it off her aura?”

“Me!” Dominick said with a grin. “I put it there, I can get it off.”

“How?” The Doctor squeaked.

“I’ll transfer her… mark… to me and then drop my shields. My aura will overwhelm it.”

The Doctor’s lips parted as if he was about to say something, but he let it go.

“Well then, let’s see your magic.”

Dominick closed his eyes and tapped into that part of him that was empathy. He opened it like turning on a garden hose, slow and creaking because even just one slight would unleash a flood. Then—BANG—he was suddenly surrounded by everyone else’s thoughts and emotions. Out in the living room Avery was trying to field questions without actually saying what had happened. He knew he just had to pass the time. Stephen was fighting himself to stay in control, jabbering to himself inside his own head.

Then Dominick turned his thoughts to the Doctor and found… nothing… silence—locked. Hiding. He smiled and him and the Doctor returned the smile. “You’re very good,” Dominick said.

“Thank you, you’re not half bad yourself.” The doctor ran a hand down Dominick’s aura, which had only doubled in size. It was just a hand. “You sure you’re human?”

Dominick let out a “Ha!” and turned his attention to could. “Wouldn’t you like to kno—“ still the same nightmare—fire—blackness with just as black eyes—being chased by heat and dark… “She’s still having the same nightmare.”

“Which one is that then?” The Doctor whispered.

“It’s like the blackness is chasing her, fire heat.”

“Take off the patch of cells, and carefully—an empathy like you they may want to seek an audience.”

“They are already petitioning, Doctor.” Like intelligent static, the thing inside the rock was whispering to him.

Dominick held up his hand as if all at once a silencing motion, commanding attention and asking for respect. He closed his eyes and whispered a prayer. His left hand rapped at the blackness and he felt Alma squirm. “Hold her—she will hurt and struggle.” Alma let out a loud moan that was the beginnings of scream… “scream.” Dominick strained his power, blocking out all others. “You will be moved.” He said, eyes still closed. With his left he tapped again at the spot—this time running a nail on the edge. Alma screamed louder, then muffled—Stephen must have put a hand over her mouth. He heard shouting outside. Then he had an idea. “Hold her—keep holding but not near the spot.”

“No problem there,” Stephen said.

Dominick made his hand warm and entice. “Come on, come on!” Little bit at a time he picked and prodded then the spot latched onto him like an octopus… his knees hurt… he was suddenly on his knees and didn’t remember falling. A voice, deep and sinister, was whispering at him—“Let me speak,” it said, “I want to speak and you know how…”

“What… happened? Did we win?” Alma’s voice was scratchy with sleep.


End file.
